Canadian National
OR
(C)an't (N)avigate

According to reports on CBC 1 Radio this morning, something happened in the CN "Yard" in Prince George, either last night or Wednesday. The 7:30am newscast said that seven cars derailed on Wednesday while the 8:30am newscast claimed that several cars went off the rails last night. I guess they could be both accurate as three "incidents" since Sunday would be about the normal frequency for the new improved CN operation of what used to be Our Railroad.

Both reports claimed that the cars remained upright and didn't spill any of their contents, which supposedly weren't harmful or dangerous anyway. It is pretty obvious to this observer that unless some video footage shows up on youTube, we'll just have to accept whatever CN Rail chooses to announce. Nothing at all happened according to the Vancouver Sun and Province and there isn't even any mention in Opinion250 of the apparent recent incident(s).

There is other news involving CN in the Province however. I think this article should win some kind of prize for being the least informative article this year in BC, and that is a very competitive category, as we have come to realize.

Man hit by train

News Services
Published: Friday, September 28, 2007

A man was struck by a train and hurled down a three-metre embankment yesterday.

He was taken to hospital with undetermined injuries. RCMP and CN police are investigating.

No kidding, that is the ENTIRE article, no editing or selective quoting from the old koot, really! Reading between the lines, I would tend to assume that this happened SOMEWHERE in BC and involved a CN train, with or without an engineer. I know I'm only guessing, but I doubt that CN Police would be investigating if the man was struck by a Canadian Pacific train. I could be wrong about this even occurring in British Columbia, but with the RCMP investigating, it probably happened in Canada, at least.

I'm not feeling ill-served though, because I am confident that if Britney Spears has a quote from the Koran tatooed on her butt, Canned West will make sure I can read it, in translation, if necessary!

Mulroney
The Great!

What does the Jaw That Walks Like a Man, to borrow a phrase from Foth, have to do with the House of Infamy? Well not much, but so much of the reason for this blog, or any blog that tries to cover the BC Legislature Raids and BC Rail Trial is the failure of the local Canned West/Glowball media to even cover theses issues. Worse yet is the tendency of the same suspects to minimalise or distort the facts when they do actually pay attention to these important issues.

Don't expect much coverage of the Independent Power Producers and the transfer of water rights on most of the streams in British Columbia, other than some Campbell and Cronies P.R. about debatable future hydro power shortages (in Phoenix, Arizona). TILMA, outsourcing (often out of province or Canada) of everything including Court Clerk Services, Medical Records and Billing, BC Hydro Billing, and ferry construction aren't really important enough for much coverage in our great news outlets. They have to save prime journalistic (to use the term loosely) real estate on the "Issues and Ideas" page for advertising and puff pieces like Mulroney redux.

This paean to the man that almost single handedly (with the help of his cronies) destroyed the old Progressive Conservative Party, leaving the carcass for the Reform Church of Steven Harper to crawl into to use as a disguise, should actually be labeled as advertising. Probably it was passed off as an "opinion" piece to avoid prosecution under fairness/honesty in advertising regulations (though I'm probably dreaming to think there are any, anymore in the new de-regulated Neo-Con Paradise). Upon reading (with periodic breaks for gagging) this virtually fact free revision of recent history, one is not surprised to find that its author, Gregory Thomas, "was national co-chairman of Youth for Brian Mulroney in the 1983 Progressive Conservative leadership campaign." I can only imagine that now Mr. Thomas is writing to the Pope to nominate Lyin' Brian for canonization.

Those with a strong enough stomach can follow the link and read the whole fairy tale, but I would like to point out some of the more absurd statements it contains. The sub-title is:

Despite the views on some mean streets in Toronto, the former PM is hugely popular and has a sterling legacy

Some people might say he's lucky to be un-indicted, and owes that fact to the ability to obstruct justice from a high enough political position......hmmmm, sounds like justice in British Columbia. Paper bags full of money are somewhat of a legacy in British Columbia also. It turns out those mean streets are all in a small part of Toronto.

.....beginning just west of Spadina, proceed 700 metres or so, continue another four blocks to Yonge, then 600 metres back toward the lake under the Gardiner Expressway, you can visit most of his detractors in the space of 10 minutes.

They work in three newsrooms -- the Toronto Star's, the Globe and Mail's and the CBC's -- inter-mingling and inter-marrying, thinking no original thoughts.

In other words, kinda like the only three newsrooms in Canada that aren't owned by somebody named either Asper or Black.

And so we come to myth No. 2, the suggestion that Mulroney's legacy is somehow inferior to that of Trudeau, who, by all accounts, looked pretty good on TV.

It is grossly unfair to compare the two men. Mulroney was simply better -- a better leader, a better husband, a better father, a better man.

Mulroney's foreign policy initiatives tower in comparison to those of Trudeau -- free trade, an end to apartheid, and the expansion of NATO to include Eastern Europe.

His constitutional vision, embodied in the Meech Lake Accord, has outlived and outlasted Trudeau's Ottawa centralism.

Seems to me that Mulroney and his sycophants, like Thomas, suffer from a near terminal case of P.E.T. envy. I don't care how many times you repeat lies it still doesn't make them true. Let's examine the first statement:

• better leader? - Trudeau didn't destroy the Liberal Party, even though he led it twice as long as the Jaw took to destroy the PCs.


• a better husband? - I'll admit that Brian managed to find and keep a woman just as shallow and materialistic as himself - but better?


• better father? - Pierre appears to have produced the superior offspring, and I doubt if Justin or Alexandre would concur


• better man? - how do you determine that Greg, do you have a queer eye for the straight guys?

I'll give you Free Trade, indeed, I wish I could give it back. Did you notice there is no free trade? Free Trade is whatever the USA wants, as in the Soft Wood Lumber dispute and eventual giveaway thanks to Harper and Emerson the Quislings. But Apartheid, Brian ended it, eh? and expanded NATO too, eh? Are you sure you aren't getting confused between Brian and his BFF (Best Friend Forever) Ronnie Raygun or things that required a lot of multi-lateral co-operation?

.....Mulroney was willing to put everything on the line with Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, his most powerful ally, to secure Mandela's freedom.

Oh yeah, I didn't know Brian broke Nelson Mandela out of jail in South Africa, with Maggie and Ronnie's help. There were more countries than Canada and the ones led by Brian's hero and heroine that put pressure on the Apartheid government which led to the freeing of Mr. Mandela. What did Brian "risk" or "put on the line," by the way, in supporting the sanctions and boycott of South Africa? Oh, I get it, he was afraid that the South African government would cut off the diamond supply for Mila, and we hadn't discovered our own in the North yet!

Then Greg raves about Mulroney's Constitutional Vision - The Meech Lake Accord. I will point out just one minor point and then I will go. But in just a few words, in this case quoted from mapleleafweb (just so Greg doesn't think I'm just making stuff up, like he seems to do). Without going into the details or whys and wherefores the great legacy of the Meech Lake Accord can be summed up thusly:

The Meech Lake Accord is a set of failed constitutional amendments, proposed in the late-1980s.

I guess my buddy Kirk must have approved this ad, "heckuva job Pointy," as usual! Maybe someday there will be a genuine big-city newspaper in Vancouver or some genuine TV News - but I'm not gonna hold my breath!

Extra! Extra! Extra!
Vancouver Sun
Covers BC Rail Trial

Believe it or not the Vancouver Sun covered the gathering yesterday of Justice Bennett and the other parties to the action involving criminal charges against former government aides, Basi, Virk and Basi, more conveniently known as the BC Rail Trial. In Trial of two aides set for March the Sun didn't say much, and it was buried in the West Coast section of the paper, but at least it was an acknowledgment from the rag flagship paper of our fair province that something does occasionally occur in relation to this important case. According to Neal Hall:

The trial of two former B.C. government aides won't begin until next March, but the trial judge said Monday once the trial gets going, there won't be any more adjournments.

......snip

The March trial date is the sixth since legal proceedings began, defence lawyer Michael Bolton said Monday.

Amongst the usual boilerplate that makes up the rare article covering this trial the only other real news was that Mystery Man Bill Berardino

said in two weeks, the Crown expects to disclose thousands of pages of documents.

and court will convene again on October 26 to discuss motions to be heard in December.

The glacial like pace of this trial may be one reason that people like editors Lucinda Chodan (Victoria T-C) and Kirk LaPointe (Vancouver Sun) are so quick to claim they aren't covering the trial because nothing is happening, thus it isn't news. Well I would like to point out that the warrants were executed on the Legislature almost FOUR years ago now, and here we are with disclosure not even completed. Perhaps the fact that little or nothing happens IS the news.

Robin Matthews who didn't have to clear anything with Kirk or wait for the presses to roll published his observations over at Mary's the day before the Sun shared Neal Hall's observations with the world. The way Robin sees it the lack of wheels of justice rotating IS the news and reason for concern. Over at the Legislature Raids in Notes from the Courtroom today Robin points out that: (bolding by kc)

...absence from reality seems to mark the Basi, Virk, and Basi matter. If the functionaries in the courtroom are not complacent, they are so occupied with the limited scope of their own part in the intricately constructed world built to prevent justice being done that they increasingly forget where reality is. Reality is the corrupt sale of an invaluable asset owned by all British Columbians in a secret, clandestine, and possibly criminal way. Reality is a shadowy circle of actors who may be criminally involved in matters relating to that sale (and to other matters), and who are never mentioned, and who have not (of course) been charged. Reality is a judge who has never (in my memory) placed a deadline date on a demand for disclosure information, and who repeats the mantra that "this case has to proceed" rather like a character out of Alice in Wonderland.

....snip

Justice delayed, they say, is justice denied. Does anything more need to be said?

BC Mary at the end of Robin's post tries to organize the upcoming schedule with,

The next gathering in Supreme Court: 26 October 2007

The parties re-assemble: 3 December 2007

The Charter Challenge: 17 March 2008

And as for the trial date, well, it's T.B.A. Let's hope.

She also indicates that according to Canadian Press the court will meet for three weeks commencing December 3, we'll see about that I imagine.

Keystone Trains!

The Sun also published a story in the business section, concerning the most recent CN derailment of 29 grain cars into the Skeena River between Terrace and Prince Rupert. Of course by the time the Voice of the North, Opinion 250 had already published three stories dealing with the same incident.

 

CN Derailment Near Terrace

CN Talks Safety

Latest CN Derailment Sparks Inquiry Call

The second story, concerning CN "talking" Safety is perhaps the most humorous of the three. This story begins:

Prince George B.C. - It has been a little over six weeks since two CN trains collided, derailed and burned along the east side of the Fraser River In Prince George.

This evening, the railway’s Senior Vice President of the Western Region Jim Vena addressed Prince George City Council to talk about the safety issues. there was lots of talk, but very little in the way of solutions.

The appearance came less than 24 hours after CN’s latest derailment which saw 29 loaded cars of grain off the tracks 30 miles east of Terrace.

The Senior Vice President for the CN Western Region, Jim Vena, says that CN is improving their performance as evidenced by the fact they've only had 312 "incidents" so far this year. Now I don't know if he was reading from his prepared notes or was counting the 29 cars sending grain to the geese at the estuary in Prince Rupert as he spoke, but I don't find that particularly impressive or reassuring. For one thing the days this week are each day number 260 something this year and it doesn't take a mathematical genius to calculate that that is a rate of OVER one incident a day. Then if you throw in the mention of incidents that apparently WERE NOT reported that came to light in the aftermath of the Prince George near tragedy, one can only wonder how complete of a count is the 312. Of course maybe if everything stays on the rails, you aren't really railroading like the big guys............

Oh well, another day, another "incident" on what used to be our railroad. Another two or three months and the wheel of justice MAYBE revolves a few degrees in the BC Rail Trial - with an emphasis on the MAYBE.

...not a creature is stirring,
Not in This House!

Thanks to a tip from BC Mary, I disovered an article about the BC Legislature in yesterday's Vernon Morning Star by Tom Fletcher titled Legislature session shortened. The Morning Star is one of the Black chain of mediocre media, no not Lord Black the Felon, but the as yet unindicted David Black, ultimate honcho of Black Press which....

"....has grown and prospered in Western Canada through the development of quality community newspapers and we will continue to do so. "

Rick O'Connor,
Chief Operating Officer,
Black Press

Just to be clear, I'm not suggesting that David Black should be indicted since publishing fluff, BC LIEberal spin, and as Elmer Fudd would delicately say, just publishing cwap, though questionable, have not been defined as criminal acts under existing statutes.

According to Mr. Fletcher, who is the legislative reporter and columnist for Black Press newspapers.

Premier Gordon Campbell won’t scrap the fall session of the legislature this year, but look for it to be shortened somewhat as things get even more presidential around the B.C. Legislature’s west wing.

/.....snip

The government’s got some pressing legislation to get passed, such as one and probably two aboriginal treaties, enabling legislation for the trade deal with Alberta, and a new top-down structure for Metro Vancouver transportation. Nothing that can’t be run through by the B.C. Liberals’ comfortable majority in a month, thus denying the NDP a daily stage for embarrassing the government through November.

Sometimes I have to wonder why these guys even try to get elected. It isn't as if they actually like to go to Victoria, hang out at the Ledge and do stuff. Of course those 15 minutes per day devoted to "QUESTION PERIOD" are pretty scary to a bunch that really don't want to supply any answers to anything like TILMA, IPPs, BC Rail, BC Ferries, Inferior Health etc. Of course it ain't like the so-called Opposition likes to really ask substantive questions, or on the rare occasion when they do, follow up on them. Save yer comments, I know I used the contraction AIN'T, cuz it all AIN'T right, really!

Court House Happenings?

The old Court House (well it isn't that old) down at Smithe and Robson should be a happening place on Monday, September 17. The word is that Justice Bennett and the gang are actually, really, cross my heart, going to convene and consider the issues related to HMTQ v. Basi et. al. It is likely that no Canned Westies media will even mention this, no matter what takes place, indeed, Mr. Kirk LaPointe, Managing Editor of the Vancouver Excuse Sun has virtually promised Mary and I to not breathe a word about it, because we are rude and don't have no manners, (again, I know I used a double negative). So my question is, if a major legal matter is dealt with in BC Supreme Court and GlowBall, the Victoria T-C, the Province and the Stun all don't mention it, did anything really happen?

Perusing the sometimes feisty and sometimes tame Tyee yesterday I came across an interesting article - Tsawwassen Treaty 'Fraud' Say Gulf Island First Nations It appears that in Gordo's goody bag for the Tsawwassen Band he's giving away land that belongs to the Salt Water People. IANAL, but it would seem to me that a "signed" treaty from 1851 would have legal precedence over something Gordo thought up recently to free up some farmland for "development." According to Colleen Kimmett....

First Nations calling themselves "salt water people" want the B.C. Supreme Court to stall the Tsawwassen final agreement, which they say violates their "exclusive rights to Pender, Mayne, Saturna, and Boundary Bay."

/.....snip

On Monday, the Sencot'en will appear before a B.C. Supreme Court judge to request an order preventing Aborginal Relations and Reconciliation Minster Michael de Jong from signing the agreement.

The deal is likened to "title fraud" in a press release issued by the Sencot'en C'A,I,Newel. "First Nations that used southern Gulf Islands in the past did so with our permission. We find it odd that the Crown is willing to implement a Treaty with Tsawwassen that includes harvesting rights in the Gulf Islands when the Crown must first negotiate with us. Sort of having someone make a deal to sell your house and then tell you about it afterwards -- in real estate law this is called title fraud."

Ms. Kimmett's article isn't clear about just where this application will be made, but since it is Supreme Court, it could be the same building that MAY be dealing with the BC Rail Trial. It will be interesting to follow up on this. It wouldn't be the first time that the old White Eyes Guys failed to honor treaties made with First Nations if indeed it turns out the Gulf Islands natives don't actually have the rights they thought they had for over 150 years. For the new guys (European Canadian Immigrants) to actually honour agreements made with First Nations is more like the exception than the rule.

Well I can hardly wait for Monday morning to go to the Attorney General's website and see what may or may not be happening in the Halls of in Justice in what was once the "Best Place on Earth."

Journalism & Ethics!
Oxymoron?

This post could be considered my response to Kirk LaPointe, Managing Editor of the Vancouver Sun. While it is a response to his personal e-mail to yours truly - me, it is also a response to his general attitude, his disrespect for BC Mary, his disrespect for the truth and an expression of my total lack of respect for the Vancouver Sun and the rest of the Canned West/GlowBall empire, or should I say..."the E! Everything Entertainment network?" As the Salt Spring News points out in "....Why we don't know much..."

"It's makeover time at Vancouver Island's CH TV station. Anchors are switching desks, fresh sets are being built. It's all in anticipation of today, when the station, along with other CanWest Global affiliates across Canada, becomes part of the E! Everything Entertainment network".........snip

"It will be more upbeat, positive, friendly and approachable.........The newscast might seem slightly more informal, more like news over the fence."

Whatever happened to the Press/Media being the fourth estate and having a responsibility to serve the "public interest?" Silly me, once upon a time that was also the function of government....but I digress. News is now just another form of "entertainment" and a means of selling advertising, and we all know advertisers do not like to be embarrassed or exposed to ridicule or criminal/civil action.

This whole dustup with Mr. LaPointe began simply enough when BC Mary wrote an email to his Editor-ship inquiring on behalf of herself and the readers of her blog whether or not the Vancouver Stunned would be covering the court proceedings that "apparently" took place on August 21. His Editor-ship answered that indeed a piece was in the works and if we were patient we would be able to read the word from on high in Canned WestLand in two or three days. Mary thinking she was passing on good news and encouraging her readers to watch upcoming issues of his Editor-ship's paper published Mr. LaPointe's short informative missive in full, rather than risking misquoting or otherwise mis-representing such a powerful and impotent important beacon of journalism. Well this is when the legendary matter and the fans got simultaneously involved and for those who aren't familiar with these events check out Mary's posting - i-asked-for-basi-virk-bc-rail-news.
over at her fine blog The Legislature Raids, which has been covering the BC Rail Trial, a job which Canned West/GlowBall, for whatever reason, seems unwilling to do.

We are now about three weeks past the date of the promised article with another (maybe) court appearance scheduled for Monday, September 17 and still not a peep out of the Stunned One. Mr. LaPointe lambasted Mary for her lack of etiquette and professionalism and basically acted like a spoiled child and told her and us all that we couldn't expect to receive any information from him in the future. Woweee, who would have ever expected any information from any Canned West/Glowball rag or TV outlet to begin with?

Of course the etiquette issue is totally irrelevant to this matter as far as I am concerned, we are way beyond manners and politeness here. We are dealing with possible criminal activity at the highest levels of government and the questionable disposal of the public's assets and Canned West doesn't think it rises to the level of some Bollywood actress' latest body piercing. I'm sorry Mr. LaPointe, manners are meaningless when people are dying in the Kootenays thanks to Gordo's closures of surgical facilities and hospital beds. Manners are meaningless when OUR railroad is sold via a questionable bidding process to people who apparently don't even know how to keep trains on tracks. These things are AT LEAST as important as say the deck shown at right that was virtually imprinted on the retinas of the people of BC as it , Glen pacing by the kitchen window and the Soprano lookalikes exiting the card club in North Burnaby were nightly force fed to the watchers of the evening news. We need informed discourse and an informed electorate to solve the problems facing the province today and for the flagship newspaper and all the rest to ignore issues that might embarrass the government of the day is simply unacceptable and much worse than any breach of ettiquette.

Yesterday I got to the point where I couldn't restrain myself anymore and took pen in hand, well put fingers over keyboard, and sent a personal message to Mr. LaPointe or his Editor-ship. To be fair I will just re-print the message here and then (risking a terrible lapse of manners) I am going to dissect his Editor-ship's response. I think I'm allowed to give myself permission to quote myself, though maybe I should ask his Editor-ship.

Dear Mr. Kirk LaPointe,

I know my thoughts or feelings or facts in general are totally irrelevant to
you, as I occasionally subject myself to reading your excuse for a paper. I
seem to remember a good newspaper named the Vancouver Sun, but that was long
ago in a world I may have idealized in my mind.

I think your little petulant pose over "professionalism" with BC Mary is
completely absurd and shows what a disgrace you and your publication are to
journalism. Your statement.....

"Correspondence by email isn't grist for blogs without first seeking
permission. Any polite person, and any professional blogger, knows that.
Best of luck with your work, but there is nothing further to discuss. "

...is so lame as to be almost below my consideration. You imply that you are
"professional" unlike Mary. I can only wonder what profession it is you
claim to practice. I know it isn't the one called the "oldest profession"
because it is so much more honorable than whatever it is you do. So are you
a professional imformation suppressor, infotainment dispenser, damage
control specialist for the Campbell Crime Family, or just general all around
lap dog.

You imply to Mary that you and your paper will be of no more help to those
of us who think the Raid on the Legislature, the BC Rail Trial and Sale are
more important than Britney Spears or the latest Bollywood occurance. Well
we're not too terribly saddened to hear that as you were never much help to
begin with. If anything Canned West is an obstacle to access to information
and as much as anything your failure to serve the public interest has been
the motivation for Mary's blog and my own.

I like to think your message to Mary sounded so childish and churlish
because you felt frustrated NOT BEING ALLOWED to follow up and actually
publish the story like you had promised Mary.

Be forewarned, you are in contention for the next Leaden Gyro or Vac award
upcoming soon at the House of Infamy.

Have a Nice Day, eh?

A reader of the Stun less and less.......and my bird won't even poop on
it.......unless I hide the masthead.

KootCoot
of the
House of Infamy
http://houseofinfamy.blogspot.com/

I will be quoting his Editor-ship and others, thus I will point out I feel I have the right to do so under the fair-dealing provision of the Copyright Act, the Canadian version of the more widely known Fair Use. Specifically

The Copyright Act states that the fair dealing defence may be used only in the following cases: private study, research, criticism, review and newspaper summary.

(bolding kc)

Much to my surprise his Editor-ship replied to my message fairly promptly. I will share his reply and point out the inanity of it line by line. He didn't include any greeting or salutation, probably because ANONYMITY pisses him off so much. So he just jumped right in with:

It's always quite courageous to send anonymous e-mail. I'm sure you're very proud.

For starters Lord Editor-ship Sir, wizard of all things wordly anonymity and pseudonymity are two distinct things. Also since I am somewhat critical of our current government and definitely have no faith in their ethical restraint from trying to harm me for my criticism if given a chance, I choose to use a pseudonym or Nom de Plume an old and honorable tradition used by such as Mark Twain and George Sand. If it is important enough anyone can be tracked online, however by using a pseudonym I have essentially erected an idiot barrier. Anyone smart enough to get beyond that is probably also smart enough to not do something stupid to either myself or a relative with the misfortune of sharing names and initials.

I will let Kendyl Salcito, Editor, Journalism Ethics at UBC have the last word on this.

......there is a great deal of respect and tolerance in the blogosphere for anonymity/pseudonymity among certain groups of people whose confidentiality is considered justifiable by the citizen journalism community. Those include political dissidents, corporate whistleblowers, victims and potential targets of hate crimes, and domestic violence victims. Complaints directed at these individuals are much more limited, and readers tend to judge the content, credibility, and value of the blogs without raising a red flag over the blogger’s identity.

Next his Editdictatorial Highness hits me hard with:

Stop hypothesizing motives or inferring what my messages mean about our paper's intent. You are wrong on both counts.

What planet are you living on Mr. Editor, I said nothing about your motives or your paper's intent. I merely questioned YOUR professionalism, since you brought it up, and wondered in which profession YOU considered yourself to hold membership. I don't have to know anything about your intent or motives to notice that your paper and all your sister publications and media outlets prefer to waste your time on fluff and sensational stories, bright shiney objects, rather than issues of importance to all British Columbians, but what else is new? AND I am right (as in correct) about your content, or lack of same! The only time I got close to even mentioning YOUR motives was with:

I like to think your message to Mary sounded
so childish and churlish because you felt
frustrated NOT BEING ALLOWED to follow up
and actually publish the story
like you had promised Mary.

Here I was merely trying to give you the benefit of the doubt and consider the possibility that you hadn't originally LIED to us all about the forthcoming article, but in the end had been unable to publish it, due to circumstances beyond your control. Sorry about that your Editor-ship, I will hold you personally accountable for everything in (or not in) the Sun in future.

Thanks to you most British Columbians think that the Legislature Raids case was resolved long ago, if they remember it even happened. Well, I'm not actually thanking you, I'm actually accusing you of failure to exercise your responsibility and of betraying the public interest. You have more coverage of the Pickton trial - WHEN IT IS IN RECESS - than you do of this immeasurably more important legal matter - namely the BC Rail Trial. (Notice I repeat, cause I noticed you didn't understand my email to you, so I'm trying to keep it simpler and emphasize the important stuff).

His Editor-ship closes with the ever so hurtful threat to not be my buddy anymore, or something:

When you're prepared to say who you are, I'm prepared to have a real conversation. Otherwise, bark up another tree. I don't waste time with people who call themselves KootCoot.

Well, I think I covered the anon/pseudon issue above, so we don't need to go there again. I know if I was submitting a letter to the editor in the Sun I would need to identify myself, however I like to write for people too intelligent to waste a dollar on your sorry excuse for a news(cough,cough)paper. If you don't understand this, re-read the critique of your first line.

I've read and re-read my message to you, and I can't find the part where I expressed the slightest interest in having a conversation with you. I merely wanted to express to you how little I think of your newspaper and how childish I felt your responses to BC Mary were. Now if you had responded to my admittedly harsh email in a mature non-petulant manner, indicating a genuine interest in discourse and the dissemination of information you would probably be knowing my actual name by now and who knows even on my list to get a picture. This has happened with other journalists and scholars whose shoes you wouldn't be qualified to clean dog stuff from, but hey, we am who we am and you are the Managing Editor of something that pretends to be a newspaper.

To close I would like to point out that KootCoot doesn't like to waste time with "pretend" newspapers, that even my bird has no use for. Have you heard there's a whole other type of writing out there? It's called FICTION, it's a lot like the Vancouver Sun, except it doesn't pretend to be true or factual.